our blood is an ocean

I get to work on this cool project with my pal Jack. I'm making an animated backdrop and he is being weird and awkward on stage. I think it's going to be really great!

moving picture show

I'm doing an animated backdrop for a one man show by a writer called Jack Sanderson-Thwaite. It's a lot of fun to get really into drawing and animating for long periods of time. Anyway, we've done enough work for people to know that it is happening now. I'm pleased to be part of it. 

live at cafe kino

I finished the artwork for this last week. It's been over a year since we made these recordings and we're finally ready to release them. It'll become available on the Polite Records page in the next couple of weeks. 

By the way, Tiger & Panda are playing in London with Goat on Saturday the 14th of December, where we'll be selling this new CD and a load of others. The show is hosted by Burn The Jukebox and will be at the Sebright Arms. This place claims to have an over 18s policy so if you're under 18 and want to go, let us know and we'll figure out how to work it!

a new lino project

Proofs from a couple of new panels. I'm having a go at a slightly longer story this time. I don't know when it will be done...

stuff from my old sketchbooks #4

stuff from my old sketchbooks #3

encyclopedia: a kind of press release

So it's finished. I'm pretty happy with it. It's more than a year's work.

I printed the inners at Hanway Print and silk-screen printed and bound the rest at home. The foil blocking on the cover was done at the Wyvern Bindery. I was looking into doing it myself but in the end the cost to set up would have been the same and I definitely wouldn't have done such a good job. I was also keen to give Wyvern Bindery some custom after all the friendly help I've had there in the past. They charge a setting fee of £25 for the first line of text and £5 for each additional line. Then it's about £5 per unit for every copy made after that. I think this is justifiable for an artist book.

Right now, I'm still figuring out how to present it. Doing readings is kind of limiting as this book kind of needs to be handled and leafed through to work as an artwork. My current plan is to hold some kind of event at Cafe Kino some time later this year.

I'm also thinking about offering a bespoke binding service for those who want their own personal copies. This makes more sense than mass producing and I don't want to charge for the content. Just the binding.

Speaking of which, I'm providing .PDF copies of this document free of charge to those who would like to read it (there will be some kind of 'this belongs to hrjireland' watermark on the pages) so if you'd like a copy, contact me somehow...

encyclopedia: book belt

A  non-letterpress version of the blurb/book belt. I will be trying to set a letterpress version in the future but I've spent enough money for one day...

encyclopedia: foil blocked

Just a peek for now. And yes, in case you've been wondering, the spelling is deliberate.

printing weekend

Spending this weekend taking a break from running around and getting on with some print stuff. These are getting close to the final stages of two big-ish projects and it takes me ages to get up the courage to make each new mark. Luckily, I've got all weekend.

encyclopedia: hard back(ed)

All I have to do now is print up the super fancy cover. Q: Will there be gold foil blocking? And a letter-pressed book belt? A: Yes.

copper spires a5

Finally finished the A5 version of my copper spires sketchbooks and uploaded them to my folksy and etsy shops.

the print was inkier this time, but I think the addition of the nice turquoise book cloth keeps everything together.

So that's the second 'to-do' project of the year finished. I'm keen to get through all of these upcoming projects by the end of May, as that is when this year really speeds up...

prints in progress

I made prints from earlier sketches. Both of these are from music projects that I'll hopefully be finishing simultaneously. 

The year got off to a hectic start, but I'm slowly finishing a whole lot of projects. Our flat is full of brown parcels of materials. It's very exciting.

encyclopedia progress

I think I might actually have finished type-setting the encyclopedia! It  has taken a good long time but I'm pleased with it now. Next is binding...

I ordered some super nice binding cloth for it a couple of weeks ago and I'm gonna have a go at foil blocking for the title. Hooray!

sketches

Early sketches for some projects I hope to finish this year.

copper spires sketch books

So, here is the first attempt. Two A6 hand bound sketchbooks with hard lino-printed covers. They look ok, though the trauma of getting the covers on means I can't really look at them right now. will need to leave them to dry to see if they are sturdy enough.

copper spires repeat

 Have been experimenting with a repeat print today. The final element was a quotation from a diary entry from Frances' and my trip to Copenhagen last year. This composition really reminds me of Bob Notley.

This will hopefully be the cover material for some sketch books I have bound to sell in my shop(s) so if you want, you can own a piece of this print for not too much money some time soon!

secret trail

I made this silly little story to go along with the music and pictures night on the 28th of April and the other day I got the coach into Bristol and left them in special places around the city.